Privacy? LOL!

By BRUCE APAR

April 10, 2018 at 12:11 PM

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By BRUCE APAR

April 10, 2018 at 12:11 PM

Author’s Note: Mom + Pop Culture are a couple of real characters. They could be you and me. Or not. Every so often, I eavesdrop on their conversations. Let’s listen in on what they’re saying right now about how Facebook fans are shocked—shocked!—that their privacy has been compromised, prompting them to rise up and exhort oppressed social media users everywhere to join the righteous movement to #DeleteFacebook.

MOM: How special. I read Will Ferrell’s reason for deleting Facebook. He meant it to be serious, but I found his reasoning as nutty as his comedy. Besides, the whole Facebook backlash is way overblown.

POP: No, it isn’t. Why should my privacy be at stake just because I want to share...

MOM: …and overshare, and shamelessly share, and needlessly share.

POP: Whatever.

MOM: That’s right. You share whatever.

POP: It’s my constitutional right. Amendment Numero Uno.

MOM: And how did those dastardly forces sneak in and steal your no-longer-private information… did they beat it out of you?

POP: Of course not.

MOM: You willingly provided all that private data, just by living half your life on Facebook.

POP: ‘Course I did. And that Zuckerberg kid from Dobbs Ferry should have protected my data better.

MOM: Yes, he should have. He’s an entrepreneur who had a great idea and now seems to be in over his head as the CEO of a bazillion-dollar company. But this is far from the first time that the user accounts of a major corporation have been hacked. Now Facebook knows better and will deal with it.

POP: I know better, too, and am dealing with it by deleting it.

MOM: Be careful what you wish for. You’re going to suffer cold turkey symptoms by having “Hey, look at me!” withdrawal.

MOM: Deleting it is not such a bad thing if it gets people doing old-fashioned stuff again, like reading.

POP: Or talking to each other in person again.

MOM: Or having more civil conversations about politics instead of posting childish memes that mock the other side.

POP: And spreading fake news and fake too-good-to-be-true offers.

MOM: I saw somebody point out that, without Facebook, you’d have to write about 50 letters a day to communicate with the same people at the same pace as we do now.

POP: Where’d you see that?

MOM: On Facebook.

POP: I’m not sure I remember how to write a letter.

MOM: Another person reminded everyone that our private information has long since been compromised by the government and private industries.

POP: So true that.

MOM: Think about it, Pop. We choose to abuse social media, in a manner of speaking, by spending way too much time in its death grip. We put all kinds of information out there about who we are, what we own, where we go, what we buy, what we do, what we like, what we hate, who we hate ad nauseam. Then we turn around and complain that social media is abusing us and invading our privacy. Like the man said, “Physician, heal thyself!”

POP: Hypocrites!

MOM: Exactly.

POP: No, I mean the guy who said that. Wasn’t his name Hypocrites?

MOM: You mean Hippocrates.

POP: Yeah, him, too.

MOM: Well, we sure could use an antidote to prevent overdosing on social media. It’s an addiction.

POP: Maybe Facebook and the others should be regulated, like other controlled substances that cause addiction.

MOM: Somebody suggested regulation in a Facebook post, and I agreed.

POP: What did you say?

MOM: That users of social media should regulate themselves. Maybe we’d complain less about losing our privacy at the hands of Facebook if we had more self-respect about our privacy and more shame about our exhibitionism.

POP: Good point, Mom. No wonder I “Like” you so much. Maybe I’ll reconsider deleting Facebook.

MOM: *thumbs up emoji* *heart emoji*

Bruce “The Blog” Apar promotes local businesses, organizations, events and people through public relations agency APAR PR. He also is an actor, a community volunteer, and a contributor to several periodicals. Follow him as Bruce The Blog on social media. Reach him at bruce@aparpr.co or 914-275-6887.

The opinions expressed herein are the writer's alone, and do not reflect the opinions of TAPinto.net or anyone who works for TAPinto.net. TAPinto.net is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the writer.

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